The invention relates to electric motors and particularly to arrangements for supporting the bearings of such motors. While the application has particular application to small and inexpensive electric motors used in various applications such as electric vacuum cleaners, it will be understood that the invention also has application to a wide variety of other electric motors as well as other devices in which it is desired to mount a variety of bearing types interchangeably in the same housing.
The prior art includes various constructions for such motors which have a so called clam-shell housing. Such housings have two mating halves. In such constructions the mating halves will collectively define a cavity or groove within the opening dimensioned and configured for accommodating a bearing such as a ball bearing. The prior art motors have also utilized spherical bearings. These spherical bearings are often used in such motors and they are characterized by an outer envelope which is substantially spherical as opposed to the substantially cylindrical section which characterizes many ball bearings as well as many journal bearings. A prior art construction that provides a common housing to interchangeably mount a spherical bearing or a bearing in the form of a cylindrical section utilized a cupped spring washer disposed in coaxial relationship with a spherical bearing to provide a force on the spherical bearing. The cupped spring washer was installed in a groove in the housing which was dimensioned and configured to alternatively accomodate either the spherical or cylindrical section outer bearing envelope. The cupped spring washer in these motors pushed the spherical bearing into a recess in the housing.
It is an object of the invention to provide a motor and a motor with a housing having a single construction which will interchangeably accept spherical bearings as well as bearings which have an outer envelope which is substantially a cylindrical section such as ball bearings and which do not require the use of springs for mountings the spherical bearings.
It is another object of the invention to provide standardization of parts used in various motor constructions so as to achieve maximum economies of scale in manufacturing of such parts.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a construction which insures precise location of the bearings for maximum motor life.